The Only Time You Give Another Guy Flowers
by Lex Complex
Summary: Everything I touch dies. Plants. Pets. Now, even my best friend. And this is not the first time I've felt like my being a Life Wizard is the sickest joke in the history of sick jokes.
1. Prologue

I remember how my hands went numb from squeezing his. I remember how my throat burned from screaming his name. I remember how empty my arms felt as I cradled his lifeless body. But most of all, I remember dying with him that day.

And the next day, I buried my heart and soul in the grave that was supposed to be his.

His funeral was unique as far as funerals went. There was no body, no coffin, and, for the most part, no tears. Nobody wanted to do the eulogy; nobody wanted to talk about a dead guy who wasn't even there. In the end, I did it, and did such a lousy job at that. I tried to sound normal, but my voice was gruff and my breath was bated. Not knowing where to begin, I apologized. I apologized to every single person who actually cared to be there that day for having the gall to come back. Two went out and two should have come back. Two, or none at all.

Halfway through, I caught a glance of the headmaster. His mouth was closed the whole time, but the look he gave me kept saying, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Somewhere in the mess of people, the professors were all huddled together. I wanted to get some strength from my professor, Moolinda Wu, but I knew I wouldn't find her. I wouldn't have found any other Life wizard that day.

Nobody really paid attention—part of me was relieved, and part of me wanted to do _their_ eulogy next. When I'd said all that could be said about a guy who was impossible to put into words, the entire Death School started digging his grave. No earth-sundering magic or raising undead workers; just plain digging.

They placed a bouquet of nightshades inside—in honor of his name and his love of gardening—along with his staff and his spare armor. And as fast as they had dug it, the hole was re-filled. The Hedge Maze was supposed to be a place to celebrate life, so holding a funeral there was a rather big irony. Nobody minded, though. Not even Lady Oriel, the seraph tending the place. Hunter had been a dear friend of hers, so she would have gladly offered any and every inch of the garden for him.

That night, the nightshades in the garden seemed brighter than any other flower. Their purple petals seemed to take on a more crimson glow, reminding me of blood and death and sorrow. The sight of them was heartrending but spellbinding all the same, and I wouldn't have been aware I was crying had Headmaster Ambrose not placed a hand on my shoulder. I still couldn't forgive the old man, but his little way of comforting was most welcomed.

When goodbyes had been uttered and thanks had been offered, it was finally time to go home. Except I didn't have a home anymore. Just a dorm room that was way too big for a single wizard.


	2. How I Met That Fodder

**A.N.1:** Sorry this took forever to get another chapter. Summer break has rolled in recently, so I'll be updating this story on a (more or less) weekly basis from now on.

* * *

Hunter was bright without being blinding, like the first star of the night; he never wanted to light up the sky on his own. He was a martyr in every sense of the word: selfless, sacrificing, and maybe even stupid. He couldn't see the cracks in his own reflection—didn't want to see them, in fact—until he fixed the cracks in mine. More than once I wondered where he'd be now if he hadn't taken a wrong turn that day and met me, hadn't become so obsessed with helping me. Maybe in a better place. Maybe not.

I lost my focus in class that day and caused all sorts of problems for my professor, Moolinda Wu, who I fondly called Mama Moo. She was frozen in place, her mouth agape as she stood before a dozen dead sprites needing a proper burial and a dozen confused students wanting a proper explanation. The thought of killing the creatures never even crossed my mind, but between forming the Life School sigil with my wand and conjuring one of them, something had gone amiss. I felt a sickening sensation in the pit of my stomach, and the mana coursing through my veins felt deathly cold. My sigil burst into pieces and the energy stored inside rippled out in pulses of green waves, striking the sprites that the other wizards-in-training were conjuring. The unwitting creatures fell to the floor, nothing more than unmoving dolls at that point.

Needless to say, class ended early that day. Mama Moo asked me to stay behind. She wasn't mad, but I could see horror and sadness mingling in the depths of her eyes. As a theurgist, seeing such disregard for life must have been quite a blow to her, and I felt like something was raking at my heart when I saw her close the lid on a small box, where a dozen lifeless figures lay waiting for their trip six feet under.

"Hey," I started, my voice barely above a whisper, "do I really belong here?" It was the question that had always been at the tip of my tongue.

She turned around to smile at me, and despite what just happened, her smile was still sweet. "I'm not the person you should be asking that, Seth," she said, her voice tender yet reassuring.

Did I? I never dreamt of being a theurgist, never really dreamt of anything at all. Headmaster Ambrose—Merley—had told me the best way to find a direction in life was to learn to value life, so he pulled some strings and got me where I was, in a school of tree-huggers and unicorn-worshippers. Not that I hated the Life School, but being there felt like paddling up a waterfall, going against everything that made sense. Plants withered up and died in my care, and animals grew hostile at the sight of me, as if my very presence was a plague. Being in a school that forced me to strike a compromise with living things that spurned my existence felt like a huge farce. A tragedy, even.

Despite feeling like that, I still couldn't give Mama Moo a proper response. She told me that I didn't need to rush, that there would always be a seat in the Life School waiting for me. I realized she was telling me to ask myself, dig down inside and find the true answer buried underneath all the angst and frustration, but part of me was afraid of what I would find. She knew this, of course, and that was why she was going out of her way to make me feel like the answer didn't matter, like I'd always be welcomed there no matter what happened and what I felt. It made me happy, even if only a little.

Mama Moo let me leave shortly after that, without even so much as asking what happened. Maybe she already knew what I did wrong, or maybe she sensed asking at that moment would have been bad for both of us. Either way, I was still peeved at myself, so I felt like I needed to beat the brains out of the motherfodders prowling Triton Avenue. A wave of my wand and a burst of light and leaves later, I was teleported in front of The Harvest Lord's tower, where I had left a mark the last time I visited. The countdown for the tower's teleporter was down to three, and a party of four were psyching themselves up for the coming battle. Not that they needed to. Amateur wizard or master wizard, Harvey wasn't much of a threat, so I found myself smiling at the face of their enthusiasm.

It wasn't my style to jump in and join random battles, but when I saw a wizard who wasn't even trying to fight, who was content with having one of the Fodders smacking him around with a shovel, my legs just started moving. I rushed straight into the fray, and a Screamer joined the battle at the same time. The other wizard, who looked like a necromancer judging by his clothes, was critically wounded. First thing I did was set up some barriers to repel Death and Myth attacks, then I followed up by casting Sprite to gradually heal him. I was surprised I didn't end up killing the flying creature this time. Maybe the adrenaline rush was helping me focus.

The necromancer smiled at me, his purple eyes glinting with a hint of mixed joy and surprise. "Hey, thanks," he said in a weak voice, his face almost as pale as his short, silver hair.

I scoffed at him, thinking I wouldn't have needed to save anyone if he would've just fought properly. I kept using Minor Blessing on him, building up my mana and concentrating on defense. The Fodder was hell bent on attacking the guy, so I had to waste time erecting more shields to mitigate the damage. The Screamer, on the other hand, had her eye on me. I didn't bother defending; I was fast enough to avoid most of her attacks and I could just heal off any damage later. After some time, I got the opening I was looking for. I quickly formed the Life School sigil and slammed my wand on it. It burst into a spray of light and leaves, and from it emerged a large treant—the Nature's Wrath spell.

As haphazard as my magic might have been, I was no newbie. The only reason I was still taking the beginner courses with Mama Moo was to gain better control. And I really needed better control; my treant was a dead tree walking—bare branches, bark peeling off, sap running down its trunk—an environmentalist's worst nightmare. I messed up another spell, but the Screamer switched targets and was setting up for a large attack on the necromancer, so I didn't have time to beat myself up for it. For whatever it was worth, I had my treant attack her first. It thrust its large, twisted branch like a spear and impaled her through the chest. The Screamer let out a piercing wail before dissolving into dust.

I was flabbergasted; I was _not_ expecting my freakish Frankenstein tree to actually do a one-hit kill. "Uh, treant… attack the Fodder?" I sounded stupid hesitating to give my own summoned creature a command, but I never did learn to trust any of my spells.

The treant hammered a large, thick branch on it, and the motherfodder exploded into dust. From behind me, the necromancer cheered and clapped, like a kid on his first visit to the circus. He ran over to me and wrapped an arm around my shoulder, pulling me towards the sidewalk, pulling me close.

"Woah, man, that was awesome! I've never seen a Life spell like that!" he said with a large grin. His face had regained some color; he looked like he was back to normal. I heaved a sigh of relief and found myself smiling as well. My magic had saved someone. My unreliable magic actually saved someone.

To my surprise, he started pinching my cheeks. "Look at you! You look like you couldn't hurt a fly, but you kicked some serious ass back there. Remind me never to look down on the cute ones."

I squirmed free from his hold. "Being called cute by a guy is unsettling," I grimaced.

"And you use big words like 'unsettling'. You're chock full of surprises, Chuck!"

"I'm not using big words; you obviously just have a really tiny vocabulary. And the name's not Chuck!" Talking to him was giving me a migraine.

He laughed and ruffled my hair. He was treating me like a kid even though we were about the same age. "Then who do I thank for saving me?"

"Seth. Seth Soulweaver."

He nodded, repeating the name a few times. "Suits you, man. You look like the type to steal people's souls."

"I do _not_ steal souls!" I snapped. It was childish of me to get so worked up over a stranger, but something about him just got on every last one of my nerves. "Look, we're done here. Stay on the sidewalks so you don't get pulled into another fight. I won't be saving you a second time."

"Course you won't 'cause you'll be coming with me, Sulkweaver."

"It's _Soul_weaver! Get it right. And what do you mean I'm coming with you?"

"You're taking me to the Headmaster's place so I can enroll." It sounded like a lousy attempt at a joke, but he said it with such a straight face that I didn't know what to think of it. "What's with that face?"

"Let me get this right: At your age, you're not enrolled yet?" He nodded. "So you're an utter newbie?" Again, he nodded. "But you're here in Triton, taking on Fodders like you're some goddamn Merlin?" He looked confused. I couldn't believe it. "This is too unreal."

"Hey, my sense of direction sucks! One minute I was at that place with the bridge and the waterfall—"

"The Commons!" I chimed in. "Headmaster Ambrose's house was _right there_!"

"Really? Damn, I don't know how I ended up here. I just kept walking and the next thing I knew, this zombie guy was coming at me with a shovel. Almost spooked me outta my pants!"

For whatever reason, I found myself laughing. I hadn't laughed in ages, and I relished that sensation. "That's a long way to walk…" He was annoying, but his naivety and simplemindedness sort of pulled you in. "You know what, never mind. I'm not doing anything, so let's just get you there before you become fodder for these Fodders.

"Luke, I am your fodder."

I rolled my eyes and smiled. "Okay, let's stop with the fodder jokes."

I still didn't know if the Life School was the place for me or not, but the things I learned there helped me save someone—maybe even helped me gain my first friend—and that was good enough at that moment.

* * *

**A.N.2: **I took some liberties and tweaked some of the mechanisms for spells, so it's more of a real time battle system now. Turn-based would have ruined the premise of this story. Well, hoping to see you in the next chapter.

Thanks go to **Rekindled Fantasy **for coming up with the "motherfodder" term back when we were still playing this game. I kinda miss those days, when PVP battles boiled down to who had the stronger treasure card in the end. :D


End file.
